The US Senate Committee Approves Full Funding for Ginnie Mae

The US Senate appropriations committee this week approved full funding for the fiscal year 2025 Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Agencies Appropriations Act (T-HUD), which provides a total of $98.737 billion in discretionary funding for agencies, including Ginny Mae.

The committee voted 28-1 to approve the bill in its current form, which calls for $67 million for salaries and expenses related to the public company’s operations.

“This bipartisan bill makes critical new investments to help people keep a roof over their heads and get where they need to go safely – with new funding to hire more air traffic controllers and air and rail safety inspectors, increase our housing supply and boost rental prices to maintain level. relief, improving America’s roads and bridges, and much more,” said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the committee chair.

“This bill strengthens our efforts at the federal level to address the housing crisis, invests in improving transportation infrastructure in communities across the country, and will help move our country forward,” Murray added.

Shortly after the committee’s approval, the Community Home Lenders of America (CHLA) issued a statement HousingWire praising the move.

“CHLA is pleased to see the Senate boost funding for Ginnie Mae, which plays a critical role for independent mortgage banks, and especially for smaller issuers,” said Scott Olson, CHLA Executive Director.

The next step will be for the bill to go to the full Senate for a vote. If the bill passes the Senate, it must be approved by the Senate US House of Representatives before heading to the president’s desk to be signed into law. A reconciliation process may be necessary to align the House and Senate versions.

CHLA and other trade groups, including the Association of Mortgage Bankers (MBA), the Housing Policy Council (HPC), the National Association of Real Estate Agents (NAR), the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) and the National Association of Reverse Mortgage Lenders (NRMLA) previously submitted a letter to House and Senate leaders urging full funding for Ginnie Mae.

By giving the company the “personnel the agency needs to fulfill its responsibilities,” it will allow it to “focus on its core mission, which includes marketing Ginnie Mae securities to global investors and executing of oversight of the more than 300 companies issuing Ginnie Mae securities backed by FHA, RHS and VA loans,” the letter explained.

A broad base of MBS issuers is “critical to maintaining a competitive mortgage market and keeping mortgage costs as low as possible,” the letter said. “Continued increases in long-term mortgage rates are putting pressure on the affordability of homeownership, which means enabling continued liquidity for FHA, RHS and VA loans with low down payments, as well as maintaining competition created by a broad base of issuers is difficult. particularly critical.”